In this 3-hour workshop you’ll learn how to become a hunter-gatherer on your own land. Once established, many of these species are care-free, and can be harvested for years to come. Knowing the appropriate habitat is one key to success. Another is knowing in advance the potential weediness or invasiveness of a species. Diversify your diet, CSA, or restaurant sales.

Western North Carolina is ideally suited for wasabi cultivation. In this workshop I’ll share what I’ve learned over 25 years of working with wasabi, and we’ll inspect several plantings. Wasabi is easily grown if you can provide the right habitat, and a very high-end market is there and waiting. Seeds will be available for purchase and possibly some plants as well.

Adaptogens to know and grow and use. Health and longevity promoting herbs which we can grow in this area. Adaptogens are herbs that help the body adapt to stress— in other words, health and longevity-promoting herbs.  This is my favorite category of herbs and I have put a lot of effort into acquiring and learning to grow them.   After a brief introduction to the concept, worldwide, and relevant literature, we’ll tour the garden examining  and discussing the plants.  

In this half-day workshop you’ll learn how to become a hunter-gatherer on your own land. Once established, many of these species are care-free, and can be harvested for years to come. Knowing the appropriate habitat is one key to success. Another is knowing in advance the potential weediness or invasiveness of a species. Diversify your diet, CSA, or restaurant sales.

Western North Carolina is ideally suited for wasabi cultivation. In this workshop I’ll share what I’ve learned over 25 years of working with wasabi, and we’ll inspect several plantings. Wasabi is easily grown if you can provide the right habitat, and a very high-end market is there and waiting. Seeds will be available for purchase and possibly some plants as well. *This will be a three-hour workshop and cost will be $30.

In this half-day workshop, we’ll learn about adaptogens, herbs that help the body adapt to stress— in other words, health and longevity-promoting herbs.  This is my favorite category of herbs and I have put a lot of effort into acquiring and learning to grow them.   After a brief introduction to the concept, worldwide, and relevant literature, we’ll tour the garden examining  and discussing the plants.  

In this half-day workshop we will look at the variety of native woodland plant communities and the edible and medicinal plants associated with each in order to select appropriate plants for any type of woodland. We will discuss the propagation and cultivation / fertilization of important southern Appalachian useful woodland plants and their Asian relatives. We will also consider problems associated with invasive plants, both native and exotic, in a woodland setting.

In this half-day workshop you’ll learn how to become a hunter-gatherer on your own land. Once established, many of these species are care-free, and can be harvested for years to come. Knowing the appropriate habitat is one key to success. Another is knowing in advance the potential weediness or invasiveness of a species. Diversify your diet, CSA, or restaurant sales.

In this half-day workshop, we’ll discuss longevity tonics & rejuvenative herbs as meads & liqueurs. This workshop will cover many of the same plants as above, and also those rasayana ‘rejuvenative’ herbs used in Ayurvedic (India) medicine which can be grown locally. Instead of food, the focus will be on using these herbs to create medicinal wines, herbal meads and longevity elixirs (liqueurs). These are very popular in the orient, being healthful and delicious. The same herbs used to retard aging are also used for boosting athletic performance, ‘body-building’ and martial arts. You can purchase herbs to take home and make your own brew, from a large selection of recipes.

This half-day workshop will cover tonic & rejuvenative herbs in garden and kitchen. Bupin, ‘repair substance,’ is a group of Chinese herbs which can be combined with meat (optional) and vegetables to produce ‘medicated cuisine’, for tonification and boosting immunity. Consisting mostly of seeds, fruits and tuberous roots, they are tasty and are consumed as part of the meal (a few fibrous ones are used to prepare stock, then discarded). There are classic combinations involving 6-12 or more herbs, and many of these are sold pre-packaged in the larger oriental supermarkets. An exciting new (to us) direction for adventurous chefs. Many of these can be grown locally (an exciting new direction for adventurous growers). Also: congee, the standard Chinese breakfast of soupy rice, to which herbs can be added to address a wide variety of health concerns. I’ll share a collection of cookbooks.

This half-day workshop will cover all aspects of seed saving: when and how to collect seed, various methods and apparatus for seed cleaning, drying and storage. We will also discuss seed germination, particularly as it relates to storage (which seeds are best stored dry, which need to be kept moist and stratified by exposure to winter temperatures).

In this half-day workshop, we’ll learn about adaptogens, herbs that help the body adapt to stress— in other words, health and longevity-promoting herbs.  This is my favorite category of herbs and I have put a lot of effort into acquiring and learning to grow them.   After a brief introduction to the concept, worldwide, and relevant literature, we’ll tour the garden examining  and discussing the plants.  We’ll conclude in the herb shop to look at a full range of Chinese tonic herbs and discuss how to use them.

In this half-day workshop we will look at the variety of native woodland plant communities and the edible and medicinal plants associated with each in order to select appropriate plants for any type of woodland. We will discuss the propagation and cultivation / fertilization of important southern Appalachian useful woodland plants and their Asian relatives. We will also consider problems associated with invasive plants, both native and exotic, in a woodland setting.

Western North Carolina is ideally suited for wasabi cultivation. In this half-day workshop I’ll share what I’ve learned over 25 years of working with wasabi, and we’ll inspect several plantings. Wasabi is easily grown if you can provide the right habitat, and a very high-end market is there and waiting. At last check of internet, no one is offering fresh, domestic wasabi. Be a pioneer! Seeds & plants will be available for purchase.

In this half-day workshop you’ll learn how to become a hunter-gatherer on your own land. Once established, many of these species are care-free, and can be harvested for years to come. Knowing the appropriate habitat is one key to success. Another is knowing in advance the potential weediness or invasiveness of a species. Diversify your diet, CSA, or restaurant sales.

In this half-day workshop, we’ll discuss longevity tonics & rejuvenative herbs as meads & liqueurs. This workshop will cover many of the same plants as above, and also those rasayana ‘rejuvenative’ herbs used in Ayurvedic (India) medicine which can be grown locally. Instead of food, the focus will be on using these herbs to create medicinal wines, herbal meads and longevity elixirs (liqueurs). These are very popular in the orient, being healthful and delicious. The same herbs used to retard aging are also used for boosting athletic performance, ‘body-building’ and martial arts. You can purchase herbs to take home and make your own brew, from a large selection of recipes.

This half-day workshop will cover tonic & rejuvenative herbs in garden and kitchen. Bupin, ‘repair substance,’ is a group of Chinese herbs which can be combined with meat (optional) and vegetables to produce ‘medicated cuisine’, for tonification and boosting immunity. Consisting mostly of seeds, fruits and tuberous roots, they are tasty and are consumed as part of the meal (a few fibrous ones are used to prepare stock, then discarded). There are classic combinations involving 6-12 or more herbs, and many of these are sold pre-packaged in the larger oriental supermarkets. An exciting new (to us) direction for adventurous chefs. Many of these can be grown locally (an exciting new direction for adventurous growers). Also: congee, the standard Chinese breakfast of soupy rice, to which herbs can be added to address a wide variety of health concerns. I’ll share a collection of cookbooks.

This half-day workshop will cover all aspects of seed saving: when and how to collect seed, various methods and apparatus for seed cleaning, drying and storage. We will also discuss seed germination, particularly as it relates to storage (which seeds are best stored dry, which need to be kept moist and stratified by exposure to winter temperatures.) We will also look at requirements for maintaining vegetable varieties – which species will cross pollinate, isolation distances, etc.

In this half-day workshop, we’ll learn about adaptogens, herbs that help the body adapt to stress— in other words, health and longevity-promoting herbs.  This is my favorite category of herbs and I have put a lot of effort into acquiring and learning to grow them.   After a brief introduction to the concept, worldwide, and relevant literature, we’ll tour the garden examining  and discussing the plants.  We’ll conclude in the herb shop to look at a full range of Chinese tonic herbs and discuss how to use them.

In this full-day workshop, we will explore techniques and preparations from Eclectic herbalism of the 19th century.  We will also look at those used to produce traditional Chinese preparations. We've assembled a good collection of pharmacy textbooks, formularies, materia medica, etc. from the era when medicine was herbal medicine.  We will introduce texts and demonstrate techniques and apparatus as we make tinctures (alcoholic extracts) using both maceration and percolation methods, water extracts by way of infusion and decoction, honey pills, herbal mead, and salve. We will also demonstrate essential oil and hydrosol distillation.

In this full-day workshop we will learn about Chinese herb processing, which uses various degrees of heat as well as a variety of 'adjuvants' such as bran, earth, brine, vinegar, wine, and ginger juice to modify the palatability, side effects, actions and energetics of herbs. These methods could also be advantageously applied to Western herbs.

Class minimum 5 people

SPECIAL GUEST WORKSHOP WITH THOMAS AVERY GARRAN

Mountain Gardens is very pleased to announce a pair of workshops with Thomas Avery Garran—Using Local Herbs in Chinese Medicine, and Grow Chinese Herbs, on July 13 and 14th. Mr. Garran is the author of what are, in my opinion, the two best books (of the eight now available) on the very lively subject of using western herbs in the practice of Chinese medical herbalism: Western Herbs According to Chinese Medicine (Healing Arts Press, 2008) and Western Herbs in Chinese Medicine: Methodology and Materia Medica (Passiflora Press, 2014). He is currently based in Beijing, China and recently completed his PhD at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences: National Center for Materia Medica Resources and Daodi Herbs.

Mr. Garran has, for the past seven years, been growing herbs commercially in China and has worked with a number of farms around the country as a consultant as well as a student (studying what they are doing and helping them to improve and move toward organic production if they are not already doing that). He has a new book coming out shortly, Chinese Herb Cultivation: Daodi Practices for Growing and Processing Chinese Herbs (Passiflora Press, 2019), which is a translation of a daodi agriculture and processing text. The text has 39 herbs in it and will be the most comprehensive text available in English.

Daodi is a descriptor term that designates an herb as coming from a specific region known traditionally for producing the highest quality of a particular herb, but the term also includes the techniques used to grow, harvest and process the herb so that it becomes an 'official' daodi herb.

This workshop will be a rare opportunity for us to learn from Mr. Garran about how top quality herbs are produced in China while examining the actual herbs as they are being grown at Mountain Gardens. I anticipate acquiring much priceless information regarding the accuracy of the genetic material we currently have here. We will also look closely at the ecology of China as compared with this area and therefore the most appropriate Chinese herbs for us to grow and appropriate techniques for each of them, as well as the very complex traditional post-harvest processing for the herbs. Mr. Garran is dedicated to developing commercial scale production of top quality Chinese herbs in America using organic methods. His book and his teaching will be superior to anything we have had available to us in the past and will go far towards accomplishing this worthy goal.

In this full-day workshop, we’ll tour our large collection (100+ spp.), and discuss habitat, propagation & cultivation, harvesting and processing methods. Chinese medicinal herbs encompass a complete range of plant types (annual & perennial herbs, shrubs, vines, trees) and habitats (garden, woodland, wetland, etc). There is an established market, nationally and locally, but almost no growers. Be a pioneer!

$115

SPECIAL GUEST WORKSHOP WITH THOMAS AVERY GARRAN

Mountain Gardens is very pleased to announce a pair of workshops with Thomas Avery Garran—Using Local Herbs in Chinese Medicine, and Grow Chinese Herbs, on July 13 and 14th. Mr. Garran is the author of what are, in my opinion, the two best books (of the eight now available) on the very lively subject of using western herbs in the practice of Chinese medical herbalism: Western Herbs According to Chinese Medicine (Healing Arts Press, 2008) and Western Herbs in Chinese Medicine: Methodology and Materia Medica (Passiflora Press, 2014). He is currently based in Beijing, China and recently completed his PhD at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences: National Center for Materia Medica Resources and Daodi Herbs.

In this half-day workshop we will review all previous efforts to classify western (American & European) herbs in Chinese medicine categories (taste & character, meridians entered, actions & indications), focusing on native medicinal herbs and locally abundant "weeds." In addition to Thomas Avery Garran's experitse on the subject, we have collected eight publications on the topic, plus we’ll be referencing 75+ reports by my students at Daoist Traditions. A particular focus will be native (S. Appalachian) herbs with closely related Chinese species, such as Black cohosh / sheng ma, wild yam / bie xie, Solomon’s seal / yu zhu,American / Asian ginseng, etc. Mountain Gardens offers a unique opportunity to view these herbs in close proximity.

$60

These are herbs that help the body adapt to stress, in other words, health and longevity-promoting herbs.  This is my favorite category of herbs and I have put a lot of effort into acquiring and learning to grow them.   After a brief introduction to the concept, worldwide, and relevant literature, we’ll tour the garden examining  and discussing the plants.  We’ll conclude in the herb shop to look at a full range of Chinese tonic herbs and discuss how to use them. This is a half-day workshop.

In this full-day workshop, we’ll tour our large collection (100+ spp.), and discuss habitat, propagation & cultivation, harvesting and processing methods. Chinese medicinal herbs encompass a complete range of plant types (annual & perennial herbs, shrubs, vines, trees) and habitats (garden, woodland, wetland, etc). There is an established market, nationally and locally, but almost no growers. Be a pioneer!

Mountain Gardens hosts a very large collection of medicinal herbs.  In this half-day workshop, we will examine and discuss almost all of the important native woodland medicinal herbs (ginseng, goldenseal, false unicorn, black cohosh, blue cohosh, etc), their ID, propagation, ecological requirements, harvest, preparation and uses. We'll also look at some related Asian woodland medicinals, and examine the most useful sources of information from our library.